A/N: For my Sirens of the Sea story, I didn't even realize that the first two chapters came out as an even 8,000 words until after I posted the second chapter. How awesome is that?
On that note, I'm going to be focusing more on this story for now because it's best not to write more than one at the same time. And I have several other stories after this. I will not abandon anything. I will finish!
The Prodigal Son Returns
Gotham
The cool night air raged through the blighted city. The last traces of winter still lingering even as spring tries to bring in a little warmth. Unfortunately to Jim, he knew that no season could do anything to remove the gloom from Gotham. There will always be clouds to block out the sun. Always filthy air filtering through everyone's lungs.
He sighed. At least the clouds at night made a good backdrop for the searchlight. Lighting the thing was a good distraction from what's going on.
"Jim."
On instinct, he whirled around and drew his gun. He wasn't expecting who to find. Out from the shadows came a tall dark figure with an overcoat flapping in the wind. The figure approached and gradually, Jim recognized his face.
"Bruce?" Gordon exhaled, lowering his weapon.
It was him. It was harder to recognize him now with the beard he had grown. God, he wasn't the kid he knew anymore. He was a man.
"It's good to see you, old friend," Bruce said smiling. His voice even gained some more maturity.
Gordon holstered his gun and marched up to his friend to pull him into a hug.
GCPD Precinct
"Thanks again for agreeing to help," Jim said as they entered the captain's office.
"Of course," Bruce replied. "So how is everything going here?"
Jim breathed heavily as if he was holding up the sky. "Things have been… eventful," he said.
"How so?" Bruce asked. He wasn't trying to pry or to make pointless small talk. More like to gain any details that might help with the case.
The captain appeared nearly worn by something. "Well, Lee and I got married—"
"You did?" Bruce asked happily. He always knew Jim never stopped loving Lee Thompkins. "That's great."
Jim was grinning almost like a fool. "Yeah," he said crossing his arms. "But that's not—"
"Yo Jim," the office door opened and Harvey Bullock walked in with Lucius Fox in tow. "Lucius here has some…." The detective trailed off and his face widened as he noticed Bruce's presence. "Holy mother!"
"Mr. Wayne?" Lucius spoke.
Bruce grinned. "Hello, Harvey. Lucius."
"My God, what happened to the kid you used to be?" Bullock laughed. "Man, where've you been the past year?"
"Metropolis. Alfred, Selina, and I escaped there and we've been living well." A sliver of uncertainty passed him whether to tell them or not. Oh hell with it. "You're probably going to find out eventually, but Selina and I are expecting a baby."
You know that saying about it being so quiet you could hear a pin drop? Well, they probably could hear a particle of dust float in the air.
"Wow. Congrats, champ," Harvey broke the silence.
"Yes, congratulations, Bruce," Lucius joined.
"Now we have two expecting fathers," the eldest man in the room said.
Bruce looked at them. From Jim's expression, he didn't need to ask too many questions. "What?" he still had to ask.
"Yeah." There was a blend of emotions that passed over his face.
"Lee's pregnant too?" asked Bruce.
"No…." For some reason, Jim was hesitant before giving his answer. "It's Barbara."
No wonder why he was so hesitant.
"Barbara? Barbara Kean?" Bruce couldn't believe that. Sure, he knew they were engaged years ago before her sanity kind of… changed.
"It's a long story. She's actually has been kind of an ally to us and…. We don't need to get into that."
Obviously, Bruce thought.
The captain fixed his composure. "Anyway," he looked at the notes on his desk, "we have a lot of things to cover."
Jim rolled out a map of the city and some annotated case files. He began to explain their purposes. "As you know, each one of the crucified victims came from a member of every zone in the city. We're not sure about the ones from the smaller gangs, but the ones we were able to track had virtually no connection."
"And that's I was what I going to say when we walked in," Lucius said placing a small stack of papers on the desk. "Last week after we IDed the victims, I performed a toxicology test on all of them and I found very small traces of an unknown chemical. Most people would miss it, but most people don't have my skills. Now I had no idea what this chemical was called so all I had was its formula to track it. It took me a while, but I think I may have found a list of factories that could be where it came from. And my guess if we checked these places out we might be able to find why these victims were… well, victimized."
"Good job, Lucius," the captain said.
Bruce did not doubt Lucius Fox's skill. His father trusted him. But how important could an unknown chemical be? "But what's so significant about this chemical? Other than being appearing in all the bodies?" Bruce asked.
The scientist flipped through the documents. "At first," Lucius explained while looking through the pages, "it wasn't noticeable, but then I saw this strange complexion on them." He showed the other men images of a spot on the base of the skull on multiple cadavers. The spot was no bigger than a penny. From afar and if their hair was concealing it, it would've been invisible. But up close… it was very odd. The skin was white. A very haunting shade of white. And the base of the few hairs in the spot were green.
The name was rolling around in Bruce's mind. The name that has haunted his dreams for a long time. "Jeremiah," he whispered to himself.
"What."
"This looks like the chemical reaction to Jeremiah's skin when Jerome's toxin infected him. I'm not sure about the hair though. My guess this is some modified version of that gas." An idea struck him. "What if they weren't killed just to prove a point? What if they were test subjects?"
"Test subjects for what?" Bullock asked incredulously.
"I don't know. Both Jerome's and Jeremiah's followers are very unpredictable. This could be them having fun or they're experimenting on them. Since this reaction is on the base of their heads and…. Let me see."
He took the pictures and examined them closely. It took some squinting, but he found what he was looking for. "There. Injection marks."
The men leaned in to look.
"You're right," Jim said. "That chemical was injected into a specific spot. The spinal cord?"
"Yes," Lucius confirmed. "I couldn't find much for that. It's too small—"
"But the least we could do is investigate the places where it could come from," Gordon finished.
"Exactly."
"But what does this has to do with me?" Bruce asked. "You said that there were clues only I could understand. So far it doesn't look like it's a case you guys couldn't handle."
Jim sighed. "Yes… but we're kind of waiting for the next message. And when I called you, I thought it would be good to have you here when it comes." It was clear that he was regretting the choice. He looked down. "I'm sorry for this. And if I knew about you and Selina were—I would never ask—"
"It's fine. I'm here to help and that's what I'm going to do. Lucius, what were those locations where that chemical could've been produced?"
Lucius looked through his notes. "GothCorp, Ace Chemicals, and Daggett Industries."
Bruce pondered on the facilities. After years of studying business at a young age, he knew all Gotham's companies like a map in his head. "GothCorp resides in the green zone so that's not a good spot to hide from the GCPD's watch. And Daggett Industries is being used by Penguin, right?" They confirmed his deduction. "That leaves Ace Chemicals as the most plausible candidate, but that still doesn't exclude Daggett. Could you somehow get Penguin to check for us?"
"I think he could allow us."
"I say we split up into two teams," Bruce suggested. "One checks Ace while the other checks Daggett."
"Sounds like a plan?" Harvey commented.
Captain Gordon nodded his head in approval. "Good thinking. Harvey, you and Lucius take Daggett while Bruce and I take Ace." His comrades agreed without question. "Alright. Let's gear up then move out."
The next few minutes were spent preparing for their investigation. The two cops armed themselves except for Bruce and Lucius. The latter brought the former to the lab to look at some things he built in the last year.
"What's all this?" Bruce asked scanning the table.
"Grapnel gun, night vision goggles, handheld EMP, smoke bombs, and a signal disruptor," Fox explained picking up each gadget. "I was working on things like this at Wayne Enterprises for military purposes. And last year for your 'rock climbing' hobby, I thought some of these would've been a good addition."
Bruce pursed his lips and nodded his head. "It would've been. Have the GCPD been using these?"
Lucius shook his head. "Afraid not all of it," he answered disdainfully. "With my limited resources, all I could share was the goggles and radio transponder. I only finished this stuff a few days ago."
Bruce picked up the grapnel gun examining the curved steel blades. He gripped the handle to hold it out. "This could be useful," he commented. He took the rest of the gear except the EMP and disruptor. "Not very useful for this mission though."
"You're probably right. But, to let you know beforehand, I do have some other things in the works."
"What other things?"
Lucius smirked. "Some things that would be very useful, but now's not the time to discuss that. Oh! Here, you'll probably need this." He reached into a box and pulled out a belt filled with pockets. Bruce took it and secured it to his waist and packed the gadgets in the convenient compartments.
Bruce got into a car with Gordon while the others took another and went the other way. The drive was silent. The night did nothing for hiding his vilifying home. The turbulent year of wild gangs and psychotic anarchic terrorists took their toll on the island. Usually, the streets and skyscrapers would've been daubed in a large amalgam of neon colors from hotels, casinos, and other businesses. Now there were only a few specks from windows. Gotham has gone from a galaxy to a string of old fairy lights.
This is my fault.
Gotham was like that because he was acquainted with the wrong man. What's worst that he was friends with him.
Jeremiah's bunker, one year ago
"Here are the schematics," Jeremiah said spreading the plans for his next-gen generator over the table.
Bruce leaned over to study them. The generator that could take energy straight from the atmosphere was fascinating. The design was so simple yet complex in an almost poetic way.
"Incredible work, Jeremiah," Bruce said. "I'll make sure to get these to Wayne Industries to start working on the prototypes."
"Thank you, Mr. Wayne," Jeremiah said scrolling up the plans.
"Please, call me Bruce."
Jeremiah smiled. "Thank you, Bruce." He was certainly nothing like his brother.
Just then, his proxy, Ecco, walked into the control room. "Here are the reports from the board," she says handing him a file.
He took the folder and thank her.
After she left, Bruce spoke, "She seems like an adequate assistant."
"That is an understatement," Jeremiah refuted. They both grinned.
"So, how did you come across her?" Bruce asked leaning against the table.
"Oh, we uh, met after I graduated from St. Ignatius. We talked and then I offered her the job."
Jeremiah's movements and behavior almost appeared skittish. The behavior reminded Bruce of him when he was around someone in particular. "You seem to think of her rather highly," he noted.
Jeremiah's head could not turn any faster to the point of snapping. His eyes widened when he saw the smirk on Bruce's face.
"Oh, no! We're work associates. That's it!" His tone betrayed him though.
Bruce showed him his palms. Somehow eventually, they ended up having a discussion about girls and how complicated they are. Jeremiah asked Bruce if he had anyone. All he could say that there was someone, but it was beyond complicated.
Thinking about Selina did not make it easier.
GCPD, one year ago
"Hello, Bruce. It's great to see you." The pale-faced Jeremiah smiled from an upright gurney.
"Where are the bombs, Jeremiah?" Bruce demanded straight out.
"Closer please." Jeremiah requested. Bruce stepped forward a few feet. "Closer." Bruce complied again yet kept a good distance. "Tell me, how is the young lady doing?"
The bastard was bringing up Selina. How dare he! It took a lot of willpower for Bruce to control his temper.
His lack of a reply made the monster continued. "Do you know why we're destined to be best friends? Because we're very much alike, you are as I used to be. At war with your true nature. You must truly embrace it if you ever want to be free, I'm just trying to help."
Who does this guy think he is? "Trying to help me? By torturing Alfred? Trying to destroy Gotham? By shooting Selina? You think we're alike because there's a darkness inside both of us. But the difference is, I don't let mine control me."
Those ruby lips of his turned upward. "I think you could be so strong. I see it. He sees it too."
He? "What do you mean 'he'?" The colonel asked about the bombs through the hidden earpiece. "Where are the bombs?"
"What bombs?" he looked at the security camera.
"The bombs you planted around the city. You blew up the mayor."
"Oh, that bomb. Yes, that was the only one. But it did what I had to do. It got you here."
"You said 'he.' Who do you mean?"
"The one who opened up my eyes who showed me that everything I was doing was not to create a Gotham of my own… but you're. The Gotham you need. Your dark island and it will come to be Bruce. Tonight."
Bruce stepped up in his face. "Tell me his name!" he growled.
"What did the doctors say? Will the little tramp ever walk again? What vertebra did I sever? I was hoping for the lumbar—"
Bruce punched him. "Tell me his name?!" He gripped Jeremiah's lapel.
"I'm afraid that he won't be seeing you. He said he wasn't coming back to Gotham for a while. Only because you needed to find your path. Because you're his heir."
Then everything clicked to Bruce's terror. "Ra's al Ghul…" he whispered his dread. It all made sense. Ra's had Jeremiah do all this just to prepare him for the future.
"Anyway," the pawn interrupted his thoughts. "Will the little lassie need a wheelchair for now on? Or will her free spirit not take it and decide to kill herself?"
That was it!
"Leave!" Bruce ordered the guards. They were hesitant as they should have been. But they saw how determined he was, they left the room. Bruce locked the door behind them and took his communicator out.
He marched back over to Jeremiah who was grinning too much. Bruce couldn't stop imagining if he could lose Selina. She meant far too much to him. What would he do if she died? Then he came to a horrific epiphany: that the only way to beat both Ra's and Jeremiah was to let them win. Give them what they wanted.
He landed two blows on the captive's face. The blows broke his nose and he laughed. He was just like his brother. By the adrenaline rush from his rage, Bruce wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezed, hard. Blood streaming down in the clown's smiling mouth and on Bruce's hands. He felt everything contracting from under the pressure of his constricting hands. Jeremiah's laughing gurgles did not make his lips falter. Teeth stained red. Eyes wide with wonder even was the light went out.
Everything went silent. Bruce realized that and his grip did not loosen. I felt like an eternity passed until he finally let go.
What have I done?
His arms were trembling. Knees buckling. He has broken his vow… again. This time, it felt right. And somehow, he liked it. All this in Selina's name.
Now
Bruce's hands hurt from clutching them too tightly. How was Selina? Is she depressed? Was she getting enough to eat? Is school going well for her?
"Are you alright, Bruce?"
He was brought back to reality by Jim.
"Yeah," he stumbled. "I'm fine."
He could feel the gaze from the corner of Jim's eye. "You're thinking about Selina aren't you?" It didn't sound much like a question. More as a statement.
"Is it that obvious?" he inquired.
"It's more like a fellow father-to-be seeing someone else go through the same thing. Now Bruce, are you sure you're ready for this? At your age? I know you're over eighteen but still. Are you really ready?"
The younger man breathed. "I've been making myself ready. I've been reading all the books on pregnancy, birthing, and parenting. I'm even prepared to deliver the baby myself if it's necessary. But what about you? Your situation doesn't sound any easier."
It was Gordon's turn to huff. "Like you said. I'll make myself ready," he admitted.
They shared the silence for an uncomfortable amount of time before Bruce decided to break it. "So do you know what you're going to have?"
"I don't know. Lee says the city still is not ready for equipment like ultrasounds and stuff."
That's right! Lee!
The fact that Bruce has been keeping to himself needed to be asked. "How does Lee feel about this situation with you and Barbara?"
Jim went on explaining that Lee was missing for months and he and Barbara had a moment of innate weakness after she helped them save some refugees. After finding Lee, Barbara asked her to be her doctor. Sometime later, he and Lee finally tied the knot.
A story like that makes Bruce wonder how Barbara Kean—the one who was pregnant—thinks about the father of her child was married to another woman? Especially to a woman with whom she did not have a great relationship.
"We're here."
Bruce looked up at the green neon sign of:
ACE
Chemicals
A factory that should've been shut down years ago for its environmental impact and lack of labor morals toward the public. The chimneys billowing toxic smoke. The plant was in operation. It was being used.
Jim opened his door. "Alright, let's get moving," he said.
Bruce stepped out of the cruiser gazing up at the eerie factory. The smell was foul.
"You okay, Bruce?"
"Yeah," he answered without looking away. He could sense Jim's worry toward him.
"Look I know all the clues point out that could be him, but he is dead. You know that." Bruce clenched his fists again. "I'm sorry. I didn't—"
"It's fine," Bruce insisted and strode further.
Tonight, he may have to face his worst fears that should have been dead at his hand.
A/N: The dialogue of the interrogation was changed because of four reasons.
1. I thought one of Bruce's lines was a bit cheesy.
2. In the show, Jeremiah called Selina a word I do not use and therefore do not use in my writing. I don't believe any woman deserves to be called that. Not even a dog.
3. I have a plan for Ra's al Ghul that does not go as it did in the show. Why kill him off in the first place since he has a big future with Bruce?
4. This is an alternate universe and I thought of changing some of the lines wouldn't be a bad idea.
Leave your thoughts. Share with others. I'll be back. Hasta la vista, baby.
